Mason Hall

Aerial View of Mason (left) and Randolph (right) halls, 1989

Namesake

Mason Hall is named for another mother of an influential early American, George Mason.[1. Edward Alvey, Jr., Historyof Mary Washington College 1908-1972 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1974), 350.] Ann Stevens Thomson was the mother of George Mason, the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights. She was married to George Mason III and the couple had three children including the statesman, George Mason IV while the family resided in Fairfax, Virginia. Ann came from a distinguished family that had it roots in the Virginia Colony for many years.[2. Ibid] Her grandfather was a lawyer, her uncle was a member of Parliament, and her father was an attorney general of Virginia. [3. Ibid.] Ann is noted for her chastity after her husband drowned in the Potomac River in a sailboat accident, becoming an icon of early American motherhood.[4. Ibid.] Skillful management of the funds and lands left to her by her husband enabled her to provide for all her children despite her husband’s absence, until Ann passed away in 1762.[5. Ibid.] In addition to her strengths as a mother, she was also noted for being beautiful, intelligent, and amiable.[6. Ibid.] Her epitaph reads, “A good woman, a great woman, a lovely woman.”[7. Ibid, 351.]